May 04, 2008

Chandran Kukathas on Hayek's Liberalism

Friedrich Hayek, though much admired by Margaret Thatcher, distanced himself from conservativism. He was a liberal philosopher. In this episode of Philosophy Bites, Chandran Kukathas of the London School of Economics, explains the key features of Hayek's liberalism.

Comments

The main criticism of Thatcher was that she was unfair to the poor and the working class. Take, for instance, the poll tax, stringent opposition to the miners, and no minimum wage. Did Hayek support these Thatcherite policies?

Even more fundamentally, monetarism appeared to sacrifice the traditional worker to the fire of economic foces, leading to mass unemployment with little help given to the people suffering from these economic forces. What did Hayek think about his theories leading to so many damaged lives, or least suffering the accusation that they so led?